Wodonga Raiders’ Jarrod Ardern could be one of the league’s lightest-ever players.

He’s just 55 kilograms, comparable to a jockey.

“I just don’t let them catch me,” he laughed.

The 18-year-old had a breakout game against Lavington with four goals.

“We made him work for his spot,” coach Daryn Cresswell said.

“He was putting too much effort into getting the footy and not enough into defending it.”

RUN RAGGED

Lavington conceded five late goals in an eight-minute period during the first and third quarters.

“It was probably bleeding goals towards the end of those quarters,” Panthers’ coach Simon Curtis said.

“We’ll obviously have to look at that, we generally started really well at each quarter and then I felt like we ran out of puff.”

The Panthers won’t be the last team to be exhausted by Raiders’ pace and ball movement.

Lavington will play finals, but as it hasn’t beaten a top five outfit, it’s a race in four.

INJURY WORRIES

Corowa-Rutherglen’s injury toll will impact on the club’s ability to field its best reserve grade team at home against Albury on Saturday.

The Roos were forced to forfeit a series of reserves games last year after a spate of injuries.

The club has done well to meet its commitments this season, but when the senior team suffers six injuries, as it did against Wangaratta on Saturday, the alarm bells start ringing.

Given Albury sits on top and the Roos are winless in reserves, it’s not a mouth-watering prospect for a fill-in.

LEARNING LESSON

Yarrawonga’s young group, predictably, suffered a letdown after stunning Wangaratta.

Admittedly, Rovers produced a superb first half.

“The three games where we’ve played ordinary and won, they’ve all been off good wins,” coach Damian Sexton said.

Sexton tried a different pre-match approach.

“We got to the footy earlier and (ex-Western Bulldog) Lindsay Gilbee spoke to the players,” he said.

“It was my fault because I wanted to see where we’re at.”

JU-JITSU JESS

Yarrawonga’s Jess Koopman is one of the league’s most dangerous forwards and he’s quickly developing a reputation for kicking some unpredictable goals.

Koopman landed a spectacular mid-air major against the Hawks.

“He kicked a bit of a goal like (St Kilda’s) Jack Steven did against Richmond, not quite on the same angle, but kicked it in mid-air,” Sexton said.

Steven’s effort is a goal of the year contender.

Koopman also produced a flying kick the previous week against the Pies.

STARS RESTED

It will be interesting to see how many gun players miss games in the next two rounds.

Unfortunately, the league has returned to that horror period where the top five teams tackle the bottom five.

Albury will be doing everything in its power to guarantee it doesn’t hit the final weeks with the stack of injuries which damaged last year’s hopes.

And even when the big games return in the final two matches, such as Albury v Lavington, teams won’t be launching themselves, knowing the top five is set.